For some people, Bungie’s Destiny ended when they finished the single player, but most will tell you that’s where the real game begins. Players are happily grinding away, upgrading weapons, getting their characters to level 30, finding exotic loot, going on massive raids together. It’s been said before but it’s more MMO than shooter for these players, and for Bungie’s development team too.

“We don’t get a break, and that’s also part of the bargain. We knew what we signed up for and so at no time in the studio are there less than a few dozen people managing the world itself,” says Parsons, who is still playing the game himself.

“It’s a whole new, really interesting aspect of running the business itself: making sure that people are getting right vacations, making sure that you’ve got teams that are focused on a specific topic. Our Destiny operations center team works around the clock in shifts. If you walk in to that room it looks like a NASA control room.”

He describes giant screens with all the necessary information, how many players are online, where are they? What’s the schedule for daily activities? What’s happening with updates over the next three months? What’s fascinating about Destiny is that as part of this ongoing support Bungie has decided to drop the mysterious and secretive act so common to the AAA development process and interact often and productively with the Destiny community. Parsons says their feedback is absolutely key to the game’s continued success.